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Amidst the battle-scarred Landslide Zone within the USJ, four emotions, in rapid succession, flooded through Momo's mind.
The first was surprise upon hearing gunshots ring out. The villain holding Kaminari hostage didn't appear to be armed with anything but his quirk.
The second emotion was abject terror as spurts of blood clouded her vision. For just a second, Momo couldn't tell whether the shooter was friend or foe -- had she misread the situation? Had she failed so soon into the academic year?
Relief, the third emotion, took hold within the span of a few seconds, when she saw Kaminari had fallen face-first towards the ground, otherwise unharmed -- it was the villain who was wounded instead, cradling a now bloody hand.
As Momo still stood, shocked at the sudden turn of events, Jirou had sprung like a coiled spring, twin earphone jacks lashing from her ears to slam into the still-conscious villain. A pulse of sound shocked the villain into unconsciousness before Momo had even moved from her position.
The fourth emotion -- the familiar sting of shame -- welled up within her. She's a recommended student with various tutors throughout her life, resources at her disposal all preparing her to be a hero the moment she'd decided to be one, yet she'd been slow to act the moment the opportunity arose.
Ignoring the rapid beating of her heart, Momo ruthlessly stamps down her emotions, choosing instead to produce a coil of rope from her arms. No point in thinking what could've been right now when there was still business to take care of.
"Jirou," she calls her classmate's name, who wordlessly catches the coil of rope Momo throws at her. "Please restrain the villains and ensure they are defeated. I will check over Kaminari to see that he is uninjured. After that, we should see if the rest of our classmates are --"
"They're fine," Jirou replies, completely nonchalant. "I heard the teachers arrive. Just make sure the idiot's okay," Jirou throws an unimpressed glance at Kaminari, who was now babbling incoherently, trying to stand up and failing repeatedly.
Momo sighs as she approaches her brain-fried classmate, unable to forget how she'd thought she concocted the perfect plan only for the electric villain to throw it all into disarray. She really shouldn't have been complacent.
Fearful babbling pulls her out of her thoughts -- Kaminari had shied away from her when she'd reached out to put a hand on his shoulder. Momo winces at her tactlessness. Still visible to the naked eye is the slightly charred hand-shaped mark on Kaminari's shoulder, a stark reminder of her failure.
Scolding herself internally for losing focus again, Momo recalls what her heroics tutors have said in her youth about helping injured civilians. She lets out a small huff of frustration when she remembers they'd only ever covered the outlines, leaving the rest of UA. Then again, she couldn't quite blame her tutors -- she doubted anyone would've expected she'd get attacked by villains within the prestigious UA during her first month there.
Calm the victim down first, Momo thinks. She supposes it's a bit disingenuous for her to think of her fellow heroics classmate in such an impersonal way, but the instructions going through her head are pretty much the only thing preventing her from losing it.
Make it clear you mean no harm and are here to help. Use simple and clear instructions. Momo stops moving closer, raising both her hands placatingly.
"It's okay, Kaminari," she says, and Kaminari's dazed eyes lock onto her. Regrettably, as far as Momo is aware, Kaminari had not divulged just how much of his cognitive functions remain when he discharges too much electricity. Hoping that he could understand her, Momo continues reassuring him.
"It's me, Yaoyorozu Momo, your classmate and friend. Are you able to understand me? Nod if you can."
Kaminari's eyes seem to dim before lighting up, recognition flashing through his eyes. "Yaoyo....," he slurs at her, before excitedly throwing both his hands in the air, flipping two thumbs ups at her. "Yaomomo!" His head bobs up and down, a passing imitation of a nod.
Momo flushes a little at the nickname. Although clearly a result of Kaminari's fried brain being unable to properly pronounce her name, she can't help but admit the nickname was rather endearing. She much preferred this to "Madam Yaoyorozu".
Seeing a response, Momo continues, "Okay, great. The teachers have arrived. The villains are defeated. You did well, my friend." She gets a dopey grin and a happy "whey" in response. "I want to check you over for injuries, though. I will have to administer physical touch to be able to do so. Can you let me do that?"
The grin slips off Kaminari's face as if it was never there at all. It's a reaction Momo anticipated as a possibility, but what Kaminari does next takes her by surprise. He practically shrinks into himself, watching her through suddenly careful eyes, falling completely silent. The way his eyes dart around reminds Momo uncomfortably of a cornered prey animal in the nature documentaries she'd watched as a child.
A few agonizing seconds pass before a shaky breath escapes Kaminari's trembling lips. "Yaomomo...?" He calls out cautiously, before slowly reaching an arm out towards her.
It feels like Kaminari's asking her a question, but Momo takes the opportunity anyways. As sure as she is that the blood on Kaminari's jacket was from the villain injured by Snipe, she'd already made the wrong call earlier today.
She affirms Kaminari’s question, reaching out slowly to not spook him. Momo lightly places her hand into Kaminari's outstretched one, rubbing soothing circles into his palm. If the instant happy wheying is anything to go off of, she's doing the right thing. By the time Momo leads him to sit down on a clear patch of floor, his once tense body has loosened up, allowing her to assess his injuries eith ease.
Momo throws herself into the medical checkup, creating a variety of materials to assist her. She makes sure she's doing all that in view of Kaminari, who thankfully responds to her prodding and poking fairly well, happily babbling about something that she can't quite make out.
Carefully, Momo peels away Kaminari's jacket, revealing mildly scratched arms. Momo makes a mental note to disinfect and dress the small cuts afterward, moving on to focus on the area she's most concerned with: Kaminari's right shoulder, where the villain gripped him when holding his hostage.
Gently nudging Kaminari's collar aside, Momo hisses at the ugly mess of bruises and electrical burns on Kaminari's shoulders. He's already fairly resistant to electricity thanks to his quirk -- for such a wound to be inflicted on him of all people would have taken a good amount of voltage.
Anger, unladylike and unseemly, wells up within her. She has half the mind to go back and smack the electric villain with a staff until he had wounds to match, but that'd be rather uncouth. And unheroic. Her classmates wouldn't do that. Except Bakugou, but that guy's not exactly who she's aiming to become.
When she's done dabbing soothing gel and antiseptic on Kaminari's shoulder wounds, she places both her hands on his white shirt, tugging at it lightly to get his attention.
"Kaminari, the villain may have hurt your torso when he grabbed you. May I remove your shirt to check you over?"
Kaminari stares at her for a while, giving an almost imperceptible nod after a moment. Momo would like to think he trusts her enough to do this because she's done a good job as Vice Class Representative, but she's also aware of Kaminari's weakness for pretty women. She chuckles lightly at the thought, decides it's not worth the trouble. Most of the time, attraction is a natural part of being human, and if it's making her job easier right now, that's fine with her.
Kaminari compliantly raises his arms, allowing Momo to get the shirt off him easier. There's a few bruises and cuts here and there, with a thin cut across his chest -- most likely inflicted from impact with the uneven ground in the USJ's landslide area. As Momo runs her freshly created Yaoyo-MediScanner over the front of Kaminari's torso, relieved to find no internal damage, she hears footsteps walking up behind her.
"Shit." Jirou winces in sympathy, having come over as Ectoplasm's clones have taken over guarding the defeated villains. "Those are..."
"They're not that bad. No internal injuries, nothing a bit of healing can't fix up." Momo turns around to reassure her classmate, not missing the stricken look in her eyes. "Hey, can you hold this bandage for me? I need to wrap this around him. Stay in front of Kaminari so he doesn't freak out, he's still a little out of it."
It's disconcerting that Jirou, usually well equipped with snark even in the heat of battle, mutely complies with her request. She squats down to Kaminari's level as Momo stands, holding down the bandage against his skin while laying an earjack on his shoulder. Kaminari doesn't seem to mind the change in scenery, humming contently while reaching out a hand towards Jirou.
Satisfied that Kaminari had stopped freaking out, Momo moves to wraps the bandage across his back as Jirou softly spoke to Kaminari. And almost promptly drops the entire roll of bandages in her hands.
There's an angry red gash spreading horizontally across Kaminari's lower back, near the edge of his trousers. A second glance tells her it was nothing to worry about, as the gash was clearly healed long before the villain attack. Momo almost continues on with no worry before realization hits her.
The gash was most definitely something to worry about! Possibilities flicker through her head at what or who could have caused it -- she knows Kaminari's a friendly and generally likeable person, and the thought of someone willingly doing something like this to him of all people sends shivers down her spine.
She hopes the scar was merely something inflicted in an accident.
Momo shifts uncomfortably, remembering Kaminari's reluctance to having his shirt removed. If he was cognizant, would he even have allowed her to remove his shirt?
Would he even want anyone to see the scar?
Lightly, Momo drapes Kaminari's white shirt over the scar, obstructing it from view. Just seeing it felt like she'd seen something profane, and she wanted Kaminari to at least have some modicum of privacy.
She'll ask him about that later, when they all get the chance to relax from all that's happened in the past two hours.
By the time she's done, one of Ectoplasm's clones is already in deep conversation with Jirou. Momo manages to catch the tail end of their conversation.
"While I am glad to see all three of you mostly unharmed, I would still recommend all three of you do a quick checkover at the medical tent we've set out outside. I shall accompany you."
"What about Recovery Girl?" Momo interrupts.
"Her services are required elsewhere," Ectoplasm replies, and Momo raises an eyebrow at the answer. She looks to Jirou for support, but she refuses to meet her eyes. Momo's heart sinks.
"I'll explain later. When we're out of here. No one's dead, so don't fret," Jirou tugs at the sitting Kaminari. Momo quickly creates a shirt to dress him, before lifting the boy into standing position.
They walk towards the exit of the USJ together, a hand and an earjack respectively guiding Kaminari to follow them, the only accompanying sounds footsteps and soft wheying noises.
Everything that happens afterwards is a whirlwind. She remembers happy tears from Ashido and Ochako when they near the entrance -- apparently, they were the last group to be accounted for. An overenthusiastic thank you from Iida for doing her duty as Vice Class Representative in his absence, though she didn't quite deserve the praise. Check-ups from medical staff, reassuring words from Present Mic, and Detective Tsukauchi letting them know they will need to take a police statement afterwards.
Throughout all of this, the three of them never left each other's side.
---------------------------
He's drowning, gasping to resurface, struggling for his life. He knows something, something bad is happening, everything's so foggy but he needs to take control now, right NOW, RIGHT NOW --!
It takes a second for Kaminari to register that he's screaming. Disoriented, he tries to stumble to his feet, only to feel something holding him down. He's trapped, the villains have taken him, the electric villain, he'd had his hand on him, what happened to Jirou and Yaoyorozu? Are they okay?
Electricity bubbles up beneath the surface. He can't see anything even though his electricity should be lighting up the area -- What's going on? Why can't he see?
Oh. In his panic, he'd squeezed his eyes shut. Kaminari opens his eyes, a task surprisingly herculean, and isn't sure what to expect.
A blue sky. That doesn't seem like the typical venue for a kidnapping to end up at. There's some trees and a dome in the distance -- the USJ?
"Kaminari, you're safe now. Please relax."
That's Yaoyorozu's voice, Kaminari notes. If someone that smart is saying he's safe, then he must be.
Oh shit, did he electrocute them? He twists his head towards Yaoyorozu's voice, just to find white cloth. Belatedly, he realises he's been covered with an insulation blanket, preventing his electricity from traveling everywhere.
Slowly, Kaminari reaches a shaking hand to peel back the blanket, now that he's stopped sparking, meeting the concerned gaze of Yaoyorozu. He's sitting on the back of an ambulance outside the USJ, Yaoyorozu holding him in a side hug next to him while Jirou opted to stand nearby instead.
"I--" He tries to speak, and almost fails to recognise his own voice. It's hoarse, and as he struggles to speak. Jirou grabs him a water bottle, and as he drinks the muted emotions he felt while in whey-mode came rushing back full force.
He gasps, tears welling behind his eyes when he realised how close he'd been to letting down his classmates. Even with his biggest attack with his quirk, and with his allies shielded, and he'd still failed because his quirk missed one singular villain? Dammit, wasn't his quirk supposed to be his only saving grace?
His crying doesn't go unnoticed, and he's gently shifted until Yaoyorozu is enveloping him in her arms, whispering soft nothings into his ears. Kaminari lets out his frustrations and regrets and fear on the shoulders of his friend, uncaring of what a weird sight they must make to the nearby medics.
"It's alright, we have this under control now," He hears Jirou speaking to the medical personnel. That's pathetic -- he's a hero student at the best school in Japan, for fucks' sake -- and yet he's being treated like a volatile weapon that could lose control at any moment.
Not that it isn't justified, though, considering whatever the hell he ended up doing just now.
He's not sure how long he ends up crying and holding onto Yaoyorozu for dear life, but it's enough for Jirou to kind of join in, patting his shoulder with an earjack. Kaminari composes himself, reminding himself his friends probably had to deal with worse when he was being held hostage.
When they break apart from the hug, Kaminari forces a smile upon his face, meeting the gazes of both his friends. "You know," he says, "When I wished this morning to be embraced by a beautiful woman, I didn't quite expect it to happen like this."
This earns a wet snort from Yaoyorozu. "How charming of you, Kaminari," she says, not unkindly, "I'm glad you're feeling good enough to joke around now."
"Yeah, you're back to your old idiot self," Jirou adds, and though Kaminari feels a small sting at the sentence, he's known Jirou long enough to recognise there was no barb in her words. "I can't believe you would organise villains to attack the school just so you could get touched by Yaoyorozu!"
The joke's enough to break the somber atmosphere, Yaoyorozu swatting at Jirou with a hissed "Don't word it like that!", Kaminari's glad to see smiles on his friends' face again.
He jumps up from his perch, posing dramatically in front of both girls, doing his best impersonation of Iida's villain impression. "Aye! Tis' I, the evil villain Dr Gregarious! I devised this nefarious plan and sent my evil minion Hands-Man, all to achieve my villainous goal of -- feeling the touch of a woman!"
He's rewarded with uproarious laughter, Jirou slapping him lightly on the back as she's bent over laughing, and Kaminari feels a wave of relief wash over him.
As his friends begin filling him in on the status of the rest of the class, Kaminari finds himself deep in thought, a rare feat for him. The world is full of powerful, dangerous villains. He's blessed with a powerful quirk that could bail him out easily, but that wasn’t the case today.
Not to mention, he thought he'd be a cool, suave hero when facing villains -- but all he ended up being was a panicky idiot who couldn't get his wits about him. He needed Jirou to literally kick him into action to actually do something! Nor had the girls hesitated to try and save him, when the coward that is Kaminari Denki would have probably tried to flee for his own life. What would he have done if he was in Ojiro's place, fighting alone against waves of enemies? Or if he was dropped into the Shipwreck Zone, where one wrong move from his quirk could spell the death of everyone involved?
He owes them, with his life. It's a sobering realisation.
He’d always wanted to be a hero, but never really had a goal. Perhaps this would be his, to become stronger, strong enough to be the hero that Jirou and Yaoyorozu had been for him today.
-----------------------------------
Jirou Kyoka gasps awake in a cold sweat.
She pushes aside her blankets, slipping her feet into fuzzy slippers. The night chill presses flush against her clothes, stuck to her body with a sheen of sweat.
Her scalp itches, her head hurts, and her eyes are sore. She hadn't been able to sleep well the previous night already, and it seemed this night would be no different.
In frustration, she slams her fists against the noise insulating walls of her room, running her earjacks through her unusually messy mop of hair.
There's no way she'd be able to sleep with this much sweat clinging to her. Hapzardly grabbing some clothes and a towel, she opens her bedroom door, making her way up to the shower.
As she trudges up the stairs, her enhanced hearing picks up the sounds of nighttime in the Jirou household -- her father's snores, the splashing of their fish tank filter, the whirring of the air conditioning. These sounds, usually a safe haven for Jirou, do nothing more than irritate her right now.
She flickers on the light for the bathroom. Electric humming reaches her sensitive ears when the lights flicker on, and she recoils from the noise.
Despite her best efforts, her brain makes a connection. The noise is way too similar to the sound the electric-type villain had emitted constantly when he held Kaminari hostage.
Monotonously going through her routine before showering, Jirou finds herself drowning in her own thoughts, flashes of what had happened a couple days ago going through her mind.
Jirou knows she's always been a bit sensitive to how others see her, easily embarrassed by comments about her hobbies or looks or whatever else. It's why she's developed a tendency to act disinterested as a front so that others would never know what she's really thinking. It wasn't an irrational decision -- she knows that as a hero, villains would try to get under her skin. Better to not have her weaknesses known to the world than to have them be exploited.
That said, before starting at UA, her father had encouraged her to "just be herself" and make some genuine connections outside of family. It was difficult to come out of her shell, but none of her classmates seemed to mind her sass -- except maybe Bakugou, but she had no clue what wouldn't piss the guy off at this point.
That was until the USJ.
After Snipe had taken down the villain holding Kaminari hostage, she'd asked Yaoyorozu to take care of Kaminari, aware that her medical knowledge and bedside manner would pale in comparison. Yet that wasn't the only reason. She's not stupid enough to think Kaminari got out of the entire debacle unscathed, and looking at those wounds she'd indirectly caused would've made her feel more shit than she already did.
After all, she'd practically thrown him to the wolves by kicking him towards the villains. She'd also foolishly let her guard down, letting a villain slip past her despite her quirk.
The ugly bruising she saw couldn't escape her memory. I did this, she remembers thinking to herself at the moment. She'd behaved completely un-hero like, letting her frustration at Kaminari's cowardice take over and launching him at the enemy. She had no clue of the villains' quirks, no idea of if they were capable of withstanding electricity. An entirely irrational decision made purely from her finding a classmate annoying.
Annoying as Kaminari may be, he didn't deserve his injuries, nor the mental scarring likely to occur. She'd heard how his heartbeat nearly beat out of his chest when Yaoyorozu approached him.
She knew she herself was traumatised from the incident too, her overimaginative brain bestowing upon her multiple dreams where things had ended differently. The worst one -- and most frequent -- had been her kicking Kaminari towards the villains, only for the electric villain to grab her classmate and snap him like a twig.
She shudders at how realistically Kaminari's blood had pooled at her feet in her dreams, how devoid of life his eyes looked, how eerily silent and still his body was -- things her energetic classmate should not be like in any circumstance. Jirou turns up the heat in the shower and scrubs at her skin harshly, desperate to get rid of the intruding thoughts.
The pitter-patter of water against her skin crescendos into something too much tor her. Jirou harshly shuts off the shower, wincing at the jarring sound the shower curtain makes when she pulls it aside. She wraps herself in a towel, carefully drying her earjacks first.
As she heads towards the sink, she catches a glance of the now foggy mirror. Rationally, she knows she looks like shit without even needing to look, but a self-pitying part of her wins out.
An earjack extends, carefully wiping the fog from the mirror, showing Jirou just how pathetic she is.
Dark circles under half lidded eyes stare back at her, striking against unnaturally pale skin. A thin line as a sorry excuse for lips, a black scab adorned right in the middle where she'd gnawed on it too much. She’s a good singer, but what comes out of her lips is far too often cutting comments and sarcastic snides instead.
Isn't that what happened, after all, when she'd only been able to throw jagged barbs at Kaminari after he'd recovered, instead of apologizing like she wanted to? When she'd called him an idiot when she was the foolish one, unable to say even one comforting word when she was the one who had caused his distress? When she'd stood aside and did nothing after Kaminari sparked out of his quirk-induced haze, letting Yaoyorozu take the reins because she had no idea what to do?
When did the nonchalant and uncaring projection of her, which she'd only created to protect herself, actually became who she is? Where did the original Kyoka go? The one who'd decided to become a hero to save people in the first place, who'd made up her mind and told her parents through shaky tears of her dream?
Where was this Kyoka when her friends needed it most that fateful day?
Her eyes trail downwards on the mirror. Rational thinking tells her she was just starting out as a first-year heroics student and wouldn't have built up much muscle, but she still feels inadequate about her decidedly non-heroic looking body underneath. Bony shoulders serve as a precursor to shaky arms, adorning a light but undoubtedly weak physique. Gashes on her skin, few from villains but most from uncontrollable scratching during sleepless nights. And as she looked further down upon the curve of her chest --
Jirou manages to tear her eyes away from the mirror, wiping wetness from her eyes that she convinces herself must be water from the shower. Getting dressed quickly to cover her up from her own eyes, she pries open the bathroom door and leaves.
She waits until she's back in her room before snaking out an earphone jack to turn off the bathroom lights.
Bathed in the safe yellow glow in her room, Jirou looks around for something to do. Going back to sleep wasn't going to be a useful endeavour -- she feels wide awake right now. Usually, she'd play one of the many instruments in her room -- the soundproof walls adept at keeping her parents asleep through her jam sessions -- but as she reached out for a guitar, she stopped.
She'd already failed as a hero. Why would she even try juggling being a musician on top of that?
Better to focus on one thing at a time, she resolves, and instead she picks up a math workbook, haphazardly strewn across her desk.
And jumps when she hears the slightest sound of vibrating coming from her phone.
Never mind, then.
Thankful for any excuse to get away from the worst villain of all time (math), Jirou sends her jacks to unplug her phone from the charger, deftly unlocking it before it even reaches her hands.
It's a message from Kaminari: a short "Hey, you still up?" -- though she couldn't fathom why he would even want to contact her. She knows Kaminari has been suffering from sleeplessness too -- he's blown up the class group chat at unsavory hours far too many times ever since the USJ, seeking comfort from his classmates through menial chattering.
Jirou's not exactly good at either of these things. She knows from text messages with Yaoyorozu that Kaminari had sought out their vice class-rep various times already to talk about the USJ. And why wouldn't he gravitate towards her classmate more than Jirou? It's rather deservedly so, she thinks, since Yaoyorozu radiated warmth and her the exact opposite.
Yaoyorozu's already a way better hero than her anyway -- tactical, smart, and with impressive looks to boot. Not anything she can brag about herself --
Another text message ping startles her out of her thoughts. It's a slew of quick messages from Kaminari, even though she hasn't responded.
[03:14]
I just wanted to check in with you quickly since I don't think I've talked much to you
And also to thank you I suppose
Thank her? What for?
[03:16]
If the USJ is still too recent for you or anything you can ignore what I'm saying
Or kick my ass both are welcome
But i wanted to thank you for protecting me when I was in stupid mode
And giving me the confidence to zap the villains
I don't think I could have done that without you
And you tried to rescue me too even though it put yourself at risk
So thank you for not abandoning me
I've only known you for little more than a month but I already know you'll be a great hero
A strange sort of anger, combined painfully with guilt, builds in her chest. How dare he thank her for what she's done? Plopping onto her bed, Jirou slams out a reply, hitting send before she could even think about it.
[03:19]
Idiot
You don't have to thank me
Anyone else would've done the same
Also dude I legit kicked you into a crowd of villains why the fuck would you thank me for that
She sees Kaminari's icon stop typing. For a second, she steels herself for him to say she's absolutely right, that she's unfit to be a hero and could have very well cut his life short. That she'd thrown barbs at Kaminari even though she was at fault for his injuries. Then the rational part of her mind wins out -- it's Kaminari, who she knew on day one blatantly wears his heart on his sleeve. If he didn't want to speak to her, he wouldn't have.
Sure enough, his response comes through.
[03:21]
Wdym lol
You figured out I was good for close combat before I did
And I was being a bitch before that
Of course I'd thank you for saving my ass
She doesn't deserve this. Kaminari's being way too nice for his own good. Why would he even need to check in on her when suffered the most injuries within her class? Barring Midoriya's self-inflicted ones, that is, but then again that guy has a problem.
It's clear she spaced out in thought -- when her focus comes back, she's greeted with a slew of messages from Kaminari, asking if he'd hit a sore spot or if she'd just fallen asleep.
The concern and compliments from Kaminari feel surprisingly nice. A strange sort of warmth melts away the icy guilt within her, and suddenly the air feels a lot easier to breathe in.
A wave of drowsiness washes over her. Through blurry eyes, she types out a single message to Kaminari, unburdened from her usual restrictions.
[03:29]
Thanks for being my friend, Kaminari. I'm tired now, but let's chat tomorrow.
There's countless more things she wanted to say, but the lure of sleep is calling her deeply. Perhaps she'd be embarrassed in the morning to have sent such an honest message, but she couldn't care much right now.
As Jirou drifts off, phone loosely held in her hand and still laying atop her blankets, she thinks she might finally have a dreamless night.